Athletic Apparel

ABSTRACT

An article of athletic apparel comprises a substantially tubular body portion having a first area of a first material adjacent at least one second area of a second material substantially more hydrophilic than the first material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Perspiration during athletic competition or general exercise is a commonoccurrence. Such perspiration is inconvenient for many reasons. It mayinterfere with vision, dexterity, and may cause lingering odor or theappearance of unkemptness that may be undesirable to the perspiringathlete.

Often times, a perspiring athlete will carry around a towel or otherimplement to wipe his face, hands or other perspiring parts of his bodyso as to avoid these undesirable occurrences. When that athlete isengaged in competition such as a basketball match, this generallyrequires the athlete take a break from the match to retrieve his toweland wipe the offending areas. In such a situation, this may beunavoidable, as perspiration may interfere with his vision and/or gripon the ball, affecting his play. Such interruptions may impede theathlete's ability to maintain a steady workout.

Thus, many athletes elect to forgo the break, instead choosing to ridthemselves of lingering perspiration by quickly wiping their hands andface on whatever shirt or shorts they are currently wearing. This oftenresults in less than optimal removal of perspiration as traditionalathletic apparel is not particularly absorbent. Furthermore, making theapparel more absorbent would tend to decrease the apparel's ability tobreathe, thus making it uncomfortably hot for the athlete and leading tomore perspiration.

It is therefore desirable to provide athletic apparel which a user mayuse to wipe his hands and face, but which maintains an overallbreathable quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An article of athletic apparel is described herein that overcomes thelimitations noted above. A body member comprised substantially of afirst material is provided with patches of a second material that ismore absorbent than the first material. The patches are located in areasof the apparel that are easily and efficiently accessible by the handsand face of the user. Thus, a user may use these patches rid themselvesof perspiration while staying relatively cool.

The primary objective of this invention is to provide athletic apparelwhich a user may use to wipe his hands and face, but which maintains anoverall breathable quality.

Another objective of this invention is to provide athletic apparelhaving a first material and at least one patch of second materialadjacent thereto, the second material being substantially more absorbentthan the first material.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following more detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way ofexample, the principles of the presently described apparatus and methodof its use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

Illustrated in the accompanying drawing(s) is at least one of the bestmode embodiments of the present invention In such drawing(s):

FIG. 1 illustrates schematic view of a shirt according to an embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a pair of shorts according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The above described drawing figures illustrate the described inventionand method of use in at least one of its preferred, best modeembodiment, which is further defined in detail in the followingdescription. Those having ordinary skill in the art may be able to makealterations and modifications to what is described herein withoutdeparting from its spirit and scope. Therefore, it should be understoodthat what is illustrated is set forth only for the purposes of exampleand should not be taken as a limitation on the scope of the presentapparatus and its method of use.

An article of athletic apparel comprises a body portion 10 having afirst area 30 comprising a first material and at least one second area40 comprising a second material that is substantially more hydrophilicthan the first material.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the body portion may be a shirt 10substantially tubular construction. The shirt may comprise a verticalbody for containing the torso of a user, and opposing horizontal sleevesextending therefrom for containing the user's shoulders and arms.

The body portion is comprised mainly of the first area 30. The firstarea 30 may be constructed of one piece of material, or more likely, maybe assembled from multiple pieces. The material of construction is thefirst material, which may be a natural or synthetic fabric oflightweight, breathable, durable and/or inexpensive construction. It ispreferable that lightweight cotton of the type typically associated withathletic shirts comprise the first material.

While the body portion 10 is comprised mainly of the first area 30,there is at least one second area 40 adjacent to the first area 30. Inother words, while the shirt is mainly comprised of the first material,it also comprises patches of the second material. This second materialis preferably a towel-like material such as cotton flannel, terry cloth,or other material that is more absorbent than the first material.

The areas of second material 40 are located on the shirt 10 so as topermit the user to efficiently locate and use the second material 40 towipe perspiration from the user's face and hands. This is importantbecause it allows the user to rid himself of performance interferingperspiration without having to stop an athletic contest to do it.

The second material 40 may be located at opposing lateral sides 12 ofthe shirt. This may provide the user with a convenient place to wipeperspiration and/or other unwanted substances from his hands.

The second material may be located at a lower frontal region 14 of theshirt. In addition to providing the user with a place to wipe his hands,this location may be extended to the face to be used in ridding a userof face perspiration and/or other unwanted substances.

The second material may be located at opposing sleeves 16 of the shirt.The second material may comprise the entire sleeve, or only aportion—preferably a shoulder portion—thereof. Thus, the user may extendthe second material to his face to rid himself of unwanted perspirationand/or other substances.

It will be appreciated that while the present embodiment is preferablypracticed with shirts having sleeves, the present invention isapplicable to tank tops and other sleeveless shirts. In suchembodiments, the second material may be placed approximately at theshoulder area of such shirts so that the user may extend the shoulderarea to wipe his face or neck area. The present invention is alsoapplicable to long sleeve shirts, for example sweaters and hoodies.Furthermore, while the embodiments described above identify specificlocations for the second material, one or more of said locations may beutilized in combination with each other, or with any other locations onthe athletic apparel body portion. For example, a long sleeve embodimentmay have a second area extending from the wrist to the elbow of theshirt.

Additionally, at least one of the first and second areas may comprise atleast one of an interior surface of the shirt and an exterior surface ofthe shirt. Preferably the second material

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the body portion 20 may be athletic shorts ofsubstantially tubular construction. The shorts or pants may comprise apair of pant legs converging at a waist section for containing theuser's crotch are and legs.

Similar to the shirt, the body portion of the shorts may be comprisedmainly of the first area 30. The first area 30 may be constructed of onepiece of material, or more likely, may be assembled from multiplepieces. The material of construction is the first material, which may bea natural or synthetic fabric of lightweight, breathable, durable and/orinexpensive construction. It is preferable that lightweight polyester ofthe type typically associated with athletic shorts comprise the firstmaterial.

While the body portion 20 is comprised mainly of the first area 30,there is at least one second area 40 adjacent to the first area. Inother words, while the shorts are mainly comprised of the firstmaterial, they also comprises patches of the second material. Thissecond material is preferably a towel-like material such as cottonflannel, terry cloth, or other material that is more absorbent than thefirst material.

The areas of second material are located on the shorts so as to permitthe user to efficiently locate and use the second material to wipeperspiration from the user's hands. This is important because it allowsthe user to rid himself of performance interfering perspiration withouthaving to stop an athletic contest to do it.

The second material may be located at opposing lateral sides 22 of theshorts. This may provide the user with a convenient place to wipeperspiration and/or other unwanted substances from his hands.

It will be appreciated that while the present embodiment is preferablypracticed with shorts, the present invention is applicable to pants, forexample sweat pants or warm-ups. In such embodiments, the secondmaterial may be placed approximately at the opposing lateral sides ofsuch pants so that the user may wipe perspiration from his hands.Furthermore, while the embodiments described above identify specificlocations for the second material, one or more of said locations may beutilized in combination with each other, or with any other locations onthe athletic apparel body portion.

The enablements described in detail above are considered novel over theprior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of atleast one aspect of the invention and to the achievement of the abovedescribed objectives. The words used in this specification to describethe instant embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense oftheir commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition inthis specification: structure, material or acts beyond the scope of thecommonly defined meanings Thus if an element can be understood in thecontext of this specification as including more than one meaning, thenits use must be understood as being generic to all possible meaningssupported by the specification and by the word or words describing theelement.

The definitions of the words or drawing elements described herein aremeant to include not only the combination of elements which areliterally set forth, but all equivalent structure, material or acts forperforming substantially the same function in substantially the same wayto obtain substantially the same result. In this sense it is thereforecontemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements maybe made for any one of the elements described and its variousembodiments or that a single element may be substituted for two or moreelements in a claim.

Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person withordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expresslycontemplated as being equivalents within the scope intended and itsvarious embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later knownto one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scopeof the defined elements. This disclosure is thus meant to be understoodto include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what isconceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and alsowhat incorporates the essential ideas.

The scope of this description is to be interpreted only in conjunctionwith the appended claims and it is made clear, here, that the namedinventor believes that the claimed subject matter is what is intended tobe patented.

What is claimed is:
 1. An article of athletic apparel comprising: asubstantially tubular body portion having a first area of a firstmaterial adjacent at least one second area of a second material; whereinthe second material is substantially more hydrophilic than the firstmaterial.
 2. The article of athletic apparel of claim 1, wherein thebody portion comprises a shirt.
 3. The article of athletic apparel ofclaim 2, wherein the second area comprises opposing lateral sides of theshirt.
 4. The article of athletic apparel of claim 2, wherein the secondarea comprises a lower frontal portion of the shirt.
 5. The article ofathletic apparel of claim 2, wherein the second area comprises opposingfront shoulder portions.
 6. The article of athletic apparel of claim 1,wherein the body portion comprises shorts.
 7. The article of athleticapparel of claim 6, wherein the second area comprises opposing lateralsides of the shorts.
 8. The article of athletic apparel of claim 1,wherein the body portion comprises pants.
 9. The article of athleticapparel of claim 8, wherein the second area comprises opposing lateralsides of the pants.